BORDER PATROL: Murrieta residents speak out for Central American immigrants

Signs from a protest Tuesday were left outside the Murrieta U.S. Border Patrol station. SARAH BURGE/STAFF

A day after a crowd of immigration protesters turned away a convoy of buses carrying migrants flown in from Texas, the Murrieta U.S. Border Patrol station was quiet Wednesday morning except for a bevy of news vans.

After the initial confrontation with the buses Tuesday afternoon, the protest continued late into the night with a larger contingent of people showing up to defend the Central American immigrants Border Patrol officials are trying to bring to the Murrieta station for processing.

Authorities said families with children were scheduled toÂ begin arriving Tuesday in Murrieta from the Rio Grande Valley, where a surge of Central Americans crossing the border has created what President Barack Obama has described as a â€śhumanitarian crisis.â€ť Many of the migrants are unaccompanied children.

Border Patrols officials said stations such as Murrieta, which are less congested, are needed to help process the huge influx of migrants. Murrieta was expected to receive 140 immigrants every 72 hours. Though the first arrivals were rerouted to other stations in the San Diego area, more are scheduled to arrive on Friday, said Ron Zermeno, a local Border Patrol union representative.

The sharp increase in people crossing the border in South Texas has been attributed to rumors in parts of Central America that children are eligible for legal residency in the United States. At the same time, many migrants appear to be escaping gang and drug violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, which have among the worldâ€™s highest crime rates.

Anita Velasquez, 23, of Murrieta, was protesting at the Border Patrol station Tuesday night. She said her father came to the United States from El Salvador in the 80s and she still has many relatives there.

â€śI donâ€™t think this is right that theyâ€™re trying stop these kids from coming in,â€ť she said, gesturing toward the anti-illegal immigration protesters demonstrating on the opposite side of the street.

â€śWhen they get sent back, what happens? They die,â€ť Velasquez said. â€śGangs up there are really, really bad.â€ť

She said she has an 18-year-old cousin who tried to come to the U.S. recently who was returned to El Salvador by authorities. He was killed by gang members, who posted a gruesome video of his death online, she said.

She said sheâ€™s upset by protesters who accuse people she says are fleeing the violence in El Salvador of being criminals.

â€śThatâ€™s why Iâ€™m out here,â€ť she said. â€śThese are working families.â€ť

Velasquez said one of her aunts, who lives in Murrieta, has a young son who was on one of the buses turned away by protesters Tuesday.

â€śHe was alone on that bus," she said.Â "His mom, sheâ€™s worried.â€ť

She said her aunt works hard and just wants her son to be safe.

â€śHer sonâ€™s not gonna come hurt anybody,â€ť Velasquez said.

Jasmin Vitela and Rebecca Ochoa, both 19, of Murrieta, said they have volunteered through their church to help interpret at a center being set up to help the released Central American detainees. A nonprofit group is organizing the effort in cooperation with federal officials. They said they couldnâ€™t come to the protest earlier because they were at a meeting to prepare for the immigrantsâ€™ arrival.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have said they are working with an unidentified faith-based group in Riverside County to set up a â€śtransition centerâ€ť for migrants who are released. The organization will provide food, clothing and other essentials and help them get in touch with family in the United States and obtain transportation, ICE officials said in a written statement.

Vitela and Ochoa said authorities donâ€™t want to identify the organization for fear protesters will target it the way they did the Border Patrol station. The teens said they donâ€™t know the location of the center yet.

â€śWeâ€™re just waiting for the call,â€ť Ochoa said. â€śI hope they do come here, because weâ€™re ready to provide for them.â€ť

â€śThese kids,â€ť Ochoa said, â€śtheyâ€™ve been through hell and back. And then to get here and have them be sent back again? You would think people would want to do the right thing, the American thing.â€ť

â€śTheyâ€™re scared. Theyâ€™re alone in a country they donâ€™t recognize and these people are stalking them,â€ť Vitela said, referring to the anti-illegal immigration protesters.

She was holding a sign that read, â€śPeace for the immigrant children!â€ť

Brenda Flores, of Temecula, was gathered with the anti-illegal immigration protesters on the other side of the street. She said she sympathizes with the difficulties these families face but people speaking out in support of the immigrants on the buses Tuesday are misguided.

â€śThey have no idea what you have to go through to keep this country going,â€ť Flores said. â€śWhere in the heck do they think weâ€™re going to get the money to pay for them?â€ť

â€śThe American Dream is gone,â€ť she said.

Flores said her cause may be hopeless, but sheâ€™s doing what she can.

â€śWe want at least to get a message get to the White House,â€ť Flores said. â€śSomebodyâ€™s got to do something.â€ť

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